The results of Pharmaceutical Technology's Equipment and Machinery Spending Survey show that spending on pharmaceutical equipment and equipment is holding steady for 2007, with moderate increases planned for this year. The survey gauges spending levels and factors influencing spending for machinery and equipment used in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

For purposes of the survey, machinery and equipment refers to equipment and machinery for solid-dosage, aseptic, sterile, parenteral, active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing, quality control and assurance (including analytical instrumentation and laboratory equipment), process control and automation, pharmaceutical packaging, and environmental control.

Respondents profile

The survey (see sidebar, "Respondents' profile") was targeted at individuals with responsibility for purchasing, authorizing purchasing, or reviewing purchasing for equipment and machinery for a pharmaceutical company.

Spending increases slow

The survey asked respondents whether their companies plan to increase spending on machinery and equipment in 2007 and whether they increased spending in 2006 and 2005 (see Figure 1). In 2006 and 2005, the number of respondents increasing spending was fairly consistent: 59.2% in 2006 and 63.3% in 2005. For 2007, however, only 40.8% of respondents said they plan to increase spending, and 26.5% do not plan to increase spending in 2007.

Figure 1: (see pie charts on this page): Spending increases on pharmaceutical machinery and equipment: planned for 2007, in 2006, and in 2005.

Levels of spending

Figure 2

To gauge the level of spending on equipment and machinery, the survey asked participants to estimate their companies' spending as a percentage of overall revenues (see Figure 2) and in absolute amounts (see Figure 3).

In estimating spending for 2007, 29.8% of respondents say their companies plan to spend between 2.1–4% of their overall revenues on equipment and machinery and 25.5% plan to spend 0.1–2% of their overall revenues on equipment and machinery (see Figure 2). In 2006, only 16.3% of respondents said their companies spent 2.1–4% of their overall revenues on equipment and machinery.